Magic: The Gathering - 13 Best Goblin Commanders

Magic: The Gathering’s favorite dirty little boys are ready to be led by some of the best Goblin commanders in the game. Typically red-based, these creatures are all about swarming the board with many little creatures and making big swings against your opponents.

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Goblins are unique compared to other creature-themed decks in that there are tons of ways to build a deck around them. There are plenty of creature-based strategies to choose from, or tons of combos to build around to maximize the chaos Goblins bring to the table. No matter which direction you go in with your deck, if these creatures are at the lead you’ll be in for a good time.

Updated on April 10, 2025 by Ryan Hay: There are tons of great Goblin cards in Magic: The Gathering and if you're looking for your next Kindred-based deck to build around, there are plenty of options out there for you to pick from. Three Goblins were missing from this collection, Grenzo, Dungeon Warden, Shattergang Brothers, and General Kreat, the Boltbringer, and now that they're here you're ready to party with some of the most unhinged creatures in the game.

13 Ovika, Enigma Goliath

I Heard You Liked Goblins

A relative newcomer to the Goblin scene, Ovika, Enigma Goliath rewards you for playing noncreature spells by giving you tons of Goblin tokens with haste. When you cast a noncreature spell, you get 1/1 Goblin tokens equal to the mana value of the spell.

Suddenly your burn spells deal damage and give you a board presence, or your draw spells refill your hand and bring out a bunch of blockers all at once. While Ovika is fairly expensive, sitting at a hefty seven mana, the return on your investment quickly adds up.

12 Rulik Mons, Warren Chief

Fight In The Streets

If you’re looking for versatility in your Goblin commander, then Rulik Mons, Warren Chief might be the way to go. Relying heavily on combat, Rulik Mons lets you take a look at the top card of your library and put it into play if it's a land. If you don’t do this, you get a 1/1 Goblin token.

Menace makes the Goblin commander harder to block, and with plenty of Goblin pump spells and lords out, Rulik Mons can be a massive threat to the table. Since Rulik Mons adds green to your Goblin deck, you can start playing cards like Doubling Season and Parallel Lives to start doubling up on your token generation.

11 Zada, Hedron Grinder

The Best 2-For-1s

Zada is a strange commander that both rewards playing lots of spells and having as many creatures in play as possible. When Zada, Hedron Grinder is targeted by one of your spells that only targets it, you get to copy that spell for each creature it can legally target.

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Because of this ability, you’ll want a wide army of Goblins out as well as a good number of pump spells to push damage. Ancestral Anger and Fists of Flame are two powerful cards with Zada, letting you buff your creatures as well as draw tons of cards.

10 Wort, Boggart Auntie

She's The Cool Aunt

A good aunt always has good advice when things go wrong, and Wort, Boggart Auntie, has the best. This red-black Goblin gives you a repeatable way to bring back a Goblin card from your graveyard to your hand each turn. It is important to note that Wort reads Goblin card, not just Goblin creatures, since there are four non-creature Goblin spells in the game.

Since you’re bringing back a Goblin to your hand each turn, you can keep bringing back a card with either an enter the battlefield effect like Siege-Gang Commander or constantly have a creature to sacrifice to another effect.

9 Pashalik Mons

Hit Em' Again

This mono-red commander can cause a steady stream of Goblins to enter your board while also pinging your opponents to death whenever a Goblin dies. When Pashalik Mons or another Goblin dies, you get to deal one damage to a creature or a player, letting your little Goblins get one last ping in before dying.

Pashalik Mons works well with other death triggers, like Impact Tremors and Purphoros, God of the Forge. With plenty of red mana, you can chain Goblin sacrifices to get a ton of creatures in play as well as multiple death triggers.

8 Shattergang Brothers

Nothing Is Safe

Do you like options with your Commander deck? The Shattergang Brothers lets you take some of your permanents, creatures, artifacts, and enchantments and turn them into punishments for your opponents. The Shattergang Brothers have three abilities, each one pertaining to one of those card types.

• One black: You can sacrifice a creature to make all players sacrifice
• Two generic, one red: You sacrifice an artifact to make all players sacrifice an artifact.
• Two generic, one green: you sacrifice an enchantment to make all players sacrifice an enchantment.

If you're able to fill up your deck with cards that have additional triggers when they die, you can chain these abilities turn after turn to keep punishing your opponents until there's nothing left in play.

7 Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin

The Slow Build

If you want a commander that will ramp up over the course of the game, then Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin might be your best choice. Every time Krenko attacks, it gets bigger, putting a +1/+1 counter on it, and then you get to make 1/1 Goblin tokens equal to Krenko’s power.

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With a healthy package of auras, equipment, and pump spells, you can easily protect Krenko from dying in combat while generating more and more Goblin creatures. Even after just a few attacks, Krenko can out scale plenty of other commanders very quickly.

6 Vial Smasher The Fierce

No Vials Are Safe

Some Goblins just want to watch the world burn, and Vial Smasher the Fierce is more than happy to help it along. Every time you cast your first spell in a turn, you deal damage equal to that spell's mana value to a random opponent, hitting either them or a planeswalker they control. Even better, Vial Smasher has partner, meaning you can bring in another creature to your deck, giving you access to more colors to play a wider variety of Goblin creatures and more impactful spells.

Some of the best cards that work with Vial Smasher include those that add extra damage for your spells, like:

• Angrath's Marauders
• Guttersnipe
• Solphim, Mayhem Dominus

5 General Kreat, The Boltbringer

A Powerhouse In The Command Zone

A lot of Goblin decks revolve around getting out a ton of tokens or by dealing tiny amounts of damage either all at once or over the course of the game. General Kreat, the Bolt unties both of these approaches in once card, giving you access to it repeatedly from the Command Zone.

General Kreat makes a Goblin token that enters tapped and attacking anytime you attack with a Goblin, and then any time another creature enters the battlefield under your control, Kreat also damages each opponent for one. Combine General Kreat with other token makers like Krenko or Muxus as well as a damage multiplier like City on Fire or Mechanized Warfare, and you'll be dishing out a ton of damage in no time.

4 Purphoros, God Of The Forge

The God Of Goblins

An extremely powerful card in Commander, Purphoros, God of the Forge, can generate tons of damage at the head of a Goblin-themed deck. Every time a creature comes into play under your control, you deal two damage to each opponent.

Purphoros starts off as an enchantment before becoming a God creature once your devotion to red equals five. If you devotion to red is five as it is entering the battlefield, it will enter as a creature.

With all sorts of wild ways to make Goblin creature tokens, you can reliably deal damage to your opponents every turn. Purphoros gets even better when you start taking your spare mana and pumping your board for +1/+0 to push even more damage.